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Friday, October 30, 2009

Believe it or not, up to this day, my mother has not given up trying to feed me vegetables. She ordered Ampalaya (bitter gourd) con Carne when we had dinner on Saturday. Sure, the dish looks attractive---love the way slices of ampalaya were arranged around the plate. She assured me while they were munching ampalaya that it's not as bitter I think it is, and it's stir-fried, not raw. I obliged by taking a bite but I couldn't swallow it. I know it's a good source of vitamins A, B and C, iron, folic acid and calcium but I just can't take the revolting acrid flavor. Sorry, mother, I'm a lost cause.:p

The beef tasted good though, and tender, without the bitter after-taste of ampalaya.

Ampalaya has been a folkloric cure for generations but has now been proven to be an effective herbal medicine for many ailments---most significant of which is diabetes. Ampalaya contains a mixture of flavanoids and alkaloids that make the pancreas produce more insulin that controls the blood sugar in diabetics.It's also one of the best herbal medicines for it's ability to help with liver problems and HIV. It is also used in the treatment of skin diseases, sterility in women, as a parasiticide, as an antipyretic, and as a purgative.

Too bad, my taste buds were probably traumatized by its unpleasant flavor---when I was a kid, my grandmother used to give us pureed ampalaya leaves to cure our coughs. I cringe just thinking about it.:p

I wasn't sure if Tisoy was ticklish or scowling while he was being sniffed at from behind. Unlike the hard-working black carabao, albino carabaos (white water buffalo) usually stay in the shade because they get sunburned easily. It looks like they were having a sniffing session...did you get a noseful? :p

Friday, October 23, 2009

These were taken about thirty minutes after take off from Incheon International Airport while the guy beside me was slurping over his noodle soup. The spicy aroma filled the cabin that made my mouth water, but listening to the slurps, I focused my attention outside the window instead. And wondered which direction North Korea was.:p

“People travel to faraway places to watch, in fascination, the kind of people they ignore at home.” ~ Dagobert D. Runes

Thursday, October 22, 2009

I am sharing these tasty flavors with you before they melt! Yes, I am back to my ice cream-eating days. Like any woman of substance, I resisted the call of ice cream for so long. But when I started exercising, I realize that "everything in moderation" is actually working for me. No more binge eating of ice cream and chocolates at 2 am.

I read that ice cream, when eaten as part of a healthy diet, may actually melt fat, helping you lose extra pounds faster than you have abstained. The secret is the calcium. Experts say calcium helps people lose weight because when your body doesn't get enough calcium, it triggers fat cells to store fat and get bigger.

After "inspecting" the scene of the crime in Greenbelt 5 on early Sunday evening, we walked to Greenbelt 3 and passed by Gelatone. Naturally, I didn't resist. Gelatone's heavenly gelato is pricey at P100 per scoop---and a scoop wouldn't do it for me. After trying their Mascarpone and Panna Cotta, my sister and I decided to bring home 1/2 kilo (P550) with 3 flavors---mango, pistachio and lemoncello. Gosh, I've never tasted ice cream this good!

Gelatone's gelati are made with healthy skimmed milk imported from Australia and the flavors are all imported from Italy.

Pistachio from Fruits in Ice Cream

Another favorite ice cream stand that I usually go to after exercising is Fruits in Ice Cream at The Fort Strip. I love their Mangoes and Cream and French Vanilla flavors from the FIC Lite line (P55 a scoop). FIC Lite ice cream has no added sugar and only 50% of the fat content in regular ice cream. Yes, FIC Lite is diet ice cream, and it's delicious!And when I need some energy-giving calorie, I go for their gourmet ice cream---an avalanche of chopped, toasted pistachio in rich pistachio ice cream base. And I'm on cloud 9!

All along, I thought that gelato is simply ice cream in Italian. I was wrong. Gelato is made with some of the same ingredients as most ice-creams around the world---milk (and cream), sugar (and other sweeteners), flavorings (fruits, nuts, essences, etc.) and air are the main ingredients. But unlike many types of ice cream, gelato often does not contain eggs. And like high-end ice cream, gelato generally has less than 55% air, resulting in a denser product.

Monday, October 19, 2009

Everything in this photo is made from capiz shell---from the chandelier, to the vases and bowls, the plates at the background to the pedestal where the red vase and bowls are displayed. Capiz or windowpane oyster is a bivalve shell of a mollusk with smooth translucent and shiny interior. The meat is eaten and the shells are turned into these captivating pieces of home accessories.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

I noticed this watery sculpture in a park at Seattle's International District. There was steam on the water that I thought this was a natural hot spring. The etched metal plate nearby describes this stone fountain as "Cascadia: Garden of Vessels"---a sculptural interpretation of the basaltic lava flows by Seattle artist, John Hoge. This sculpture references the cataclysmic events that shaped the stark landscape of central and southeastern Washington. The basalt formations in this region date to the Miocene Period, beginning about 17 million years ago and continuing over the period of 11 million years. During this time, about 300 lava flows blanketed the region, emerging from giant fissures near the Idaho/Washington border. At the end of the last Pleistocene glacial advance---17 thousand years ago---a monumental ice dam in Montana failed, unleashing a series of floods that scoured the landscape until only basalt formations remain. For Cascadia, the artist selected massive, four-to-six-sided columns as well as smaller "pillow" basalts. Leaving their shapes largely intact, Hoge emphasized the intrinsic beauty of the rocks by polishing selected planes. Cascadia captures the energy and form of the region's beautiful volcanic past.

Monday, October 12, 2009

There is nothing special about this beach, in fact, I've never been here for almost two decades. But that weekend after we buried our grandmother, my siblings, cousins and I, had a sentimental yearning to see the beach of our childhood. This is where we frolicked during summer vacations, learned how to swim, chased hermit crabs, watched sunsets and dreamed of the world beyond Guimaras Strait. This stretch of seashore was our playground, from the Kissing Rocks to this rustic resort. Nothing has changed around here except for a wider beach erosion, and the owner as well as the nipa huts got older. The simplicity of life here is achingly sweet and familiar.

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From the Man in the Moon:

“The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference.” ~ Elie Wiesel